Archive for the 'Richard Page' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

Paul McCartney is very much considered the guy carrying the Beatles torch. But the band's other surviving member certainly still does his part.

In a way, Ringo Starr is doing the better job at keeping alive this part of the Beatles' legacy – the band's call for peace, love and understanding, something he emphasized over and over during the his All Starr Band's tour-closing performance Saturday night at the Greek Theatre.

Whether it was his frequent flashing of the peace sign (often two hands a time), the peace symbols that popped up on the backdrop, the performance of a very good new Ringo song called “Anthem” (“This is an anthem / For peace and love / We've gotta keep trying / We can't give up”) or the show-closing cover of former bandmate John Lennon's “Give Peace a Chance,” Ringo soldiers on as the Beatles' peace and love ambassador.

It's never going to happen, I realize, so I should stop wishing for it. But after all these years of touring here and there with various All Starr Bands -- the first was assembled in 1989, the 11th just ended its latest jaunt Saturday night at a nearly full Greek Theatre -- I still can't help but wonder how much more satisfying a Ringo Starr show would be if the only other living Beatle would finally drop the concept and strictly spotlight himself.

I think I understand why he doesn't: it's a confidence thing. He knows he's never been even pop's 500th greatest singer, and though he's remarkably fit for having recently turned 70, his range is nonetheless lower than ever.

At the end of this two-hour performance he didn't even try to go for the high note at the end of a suitably rousing “With a Little Help from My Friends,” with a coda of “Give Peace a Chance.” By then he had even more guests (Ben Harper, Joe Walsh) joining in with this outing's All Starrs: Edgar Winter and Gary Wright on keys, Rick Derringer and Wally Palmar (of the Romantics) on guitar, Mr. Mister's Richard Page quite deft on bass, Gregg Bissonette on drums.

Ringo also doesn't have enough faith in his material; he once said he'd never play both “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus's Garden” in the same night, because that would just be too much silliness. (He served up a hearty singalong on the former at the Greek.)

But never mind that you're not likely to ever hear “Don't Pass Me By” and that you'll get either “What Goes On” or “Honey Don't” but never both (this time it was the latter). There's also an ever-growing wealth of songs he's co-penned over the past two decades, during which time his recording career has finally blossomed into what it probably should have been back in the '70s.